In addition to rolling up my sleeves, building wheels and getting it done, I will be making time to add posts to this blog; some will be reminiscences from an interesting past and some will be observations on the present state of the industry in general and wheels in particular. I’ll be pulling tidbits from my past and commenting in a completely biased way on the weird, wacky or wonderful things that come to my attention from the world of cycling.

I should tell you what cycling means to me, but every time I try to put the whole enchilada in a nutshell, I become speechless and inarticulate; so, instead, I’m going to describe a scene. It was a summer afternoon and there I was in the parking lot of a shop where I worked part-time, showing a young girl how to use derailleur gears. I was standing with her father in the middle of the lot, calling to her as she pedaled around, instructing her to change gears. Her face lit up, as she imagined the hills that she could now climb and the neighborhoods that she could visit — and still be home in time for dinner. She was realizing that the world opens up to you when you jump on a bike! It’s the same realization that struck women at the turn of the twentieth century, when they took to bicycles and left home for the first time without a chaperone. It’s a feeling I still get every time I start pedaling. Having a bicycle in the home changes lives. It will insist that we manage our time better. It will make us happier, healthier individuals and contribute to a happier, healthier planet, both in an environmental and communal sense.

I’ve spent more than half my life in service to the wheel and I’d have it no other way. Each time I’m in front of the truing stand, I’m aware of the fact that I’m about to learn something. After countless thousands of wheel builds, I still feel like a student. Even after building wheels that have won world championships, national championships and having travelled to most continents working on bikes and wheels, I continue to feel like a pilgrim in search of more knowledge and enlightenment.